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Amsterdam Housing Market Overheating

House prices in Amsterdam exceeded 2008’s peak in the first quarter. The prices show “the tense situation” in the housing market in the capital of the Netherlands: too few new houses come on the market, Bloomberg reported. Amsterdam is also leaving the rest of the country in its dust: The average Dutch house is still 15% cheaper than peak prices. Houses are being sold increasingly quickly and in the Amsterdam-Leiden-Utrecht area and in Groningen city the market is performing well above average, according to the Dutch estate agents’ association NVM. The organization had expected a slowdown in 2016 after 2015’s growth. However, some 35,000 homes changed hands in the first three months of 2016, a rise of 20% on a year ago. The average house price has gone up 5.5% to €225,000 ($252,529), and is now just 9% down on 2008’s record. In Amsterdam, however, house prices have risen 20% while the number of houses changing hands has fallen 2%.